26 August 2022
In today's edition:
The two Interim Heads of Paid Service (Sam Plum and Andrew Seekings) together with John Metcalfe, CEO for Cumbria County Council have been working with the Shadow Authority Leaders on developing the draft senior leadership structures for each of our new councils.
Consultation started on Friday 19 August, and is the start of the conversation with all staff about future staffing structures. This stage concentrates on the top three tiers of the structure. At this point in time they are only consulting on the proposed structures.
The intention is that senior roles are appointed to before 1 April 2023 to ensure that the councils have their senior leadership teams in place to support the next steps of our transition to the two new councils. The new roles won’t start until after Vesting Day on 1 April 2023.
View the draft structures via your LGR SharePoint site.
You can comment on the structures by emailing senior.structures@cumbria.gov.uk
Please respond by Friday 16 September.
Cumberland Council Plan - Your Council... Your Voice...
The draft Cumberland Council Plan is open for your feedback and is available for you to view online.
View the draft Cumberland Council Plan
Please take time to have a look and pass on your comments before 5pm on Monday 5 September. It’s important that you’re part of the conversation - you can do this in a number of ways:
Provide your comments online or in writing
You can comment by using the survey link below or by responding by email to info@newcouncilsforcumbria.info or in writing to: Cumbria House, 107 - 117 Botchergate, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA1 1RD.
<<SURVEY: Have your say - Draft Cumberland Council Plan>>
Join a conversation event
Join our next online Microsoft Teams session on Wednesday 31 August 2022, 1-2pm.
All county council and district employees are invited to join this session where they will get an opportunity to hear directly from the Interim Head of Paid Service, Andrew Seekings and Deputy Leader for Cumberland Council Lisa Brown.
We hope you can make it, please save this date and time in your calendar and use the link below to join the session.
Join the Microsoft Teams event - Cumberland Council Plan (31 August 2022)
On Wednesday 24 August we held our first session with staff which was a huge success with over 150 employees joining the call to find out more and to have their say on the draft Cumberland Council Plan.
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Westmorland and Furness Council plan - Have your say!
The draft Westmorland and Furness Council Plan is open for your feedback and is available for you to view online.
View the draft Westmorland and Furness Council Plan
Please take time to have a look and pass on your comments before 5pm on Friday 16 September. It’s important that you’re part of the conversation - you can do this in a number of ways:
Provide your comments online
You can comment by using the survey link below or by responding by email to info@newcouncilsforcumbria.info
<<SURVEY: Have your say - Draft Westmorland and Furness Council Plan>>
Join a conversation event
We'll be holding two online Teams events on 2 and 5 September - open to all staff from all councils - where the new draft Council plan can be discussed.
These events will be hosted by Interim Head of Paid Service, Sam Plum and Leader for Westmorland and Furness Council Jonathan Brook.
Please save one of the below dates and times in your calendar and simply click on one of the below links to join the conversation.
We hope you can make one of these sessions!
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On Monday 5 September, 10-11am all employees from the current seven councils are invited to join the live virtual Q&A session.
The session will be hosted by John Metcalfe, Chief Executive of Cumbria County Council and Interim Head of Paid Service for Westmorland and Furness Council Sam Plum alongside a representative from Cumberland Council.
This is your opportunity to come along, hear directly from the leadership team and ask any questions that are important to you - no question is too big, or too small!
You can ask a question during the session via the Q&A chat function or in advance by emailing: info@newcouncilsforcumbria.info with ’Q&A question’ in the subject field.
How to join:
Please save the below link in your diary and join the session.
Join the Microsoft Teams live event - LGR Q&A (5 September 2022)
Further sessions will be held on the first Monday of each month – 3 October, 7 November and 5 December at 10am. All sessions will be recorded for those unable to attend the live events.
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Now the LGR programme has moved from the Design to Implementation phase, the structure of responsible officer boards has been revised to better enable delivery.
Four boards meet on Tuesdays to ensure a single reporting cycle. The LGR Programme Board meets fortnightly, while the Day 1 Board, Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness Boards meet weekly.
Updates from this week are:
Programme Board
Tuesday’s meeting of the Programme Board heard a number of updates from the various other boards, including on key items from the Day 1 Board, the Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Boards, Fire Service Board and Theme Boards.
The main items on the agenda featured detailed updates on contract portfolios and on the senior leadership models.
The board heard about work to ensure procurement procedures around new contracts is well structured in the early years of the new councils and how contracts for hosted services will be managed.
The update on the senior leadership models included more information about timelines and next steps. The board members stressed their belief in the real talent that exists in the existing Cumbrian authorities and the opportunities presented by the structures in the new councils. The board also confirmed the programme’s commitment to support staff through the management of change policies.
Future items coming to the board include updates on the budget process, ICT and feedback from the Member Implementation Board.
Cumberland Board
The Cumberland Board had another packed agenda this week. Those involved discussed the further work being done by the HR and OD workstream on senior appointments following the release of the draft structures for tiers one to three. Next month role profiles and the managing change policy will be provided and further engagement will take place with senior staff as part of the current consultation exercise.
An updated finance report was presented to the board with a lot of preparation work being carried out ahead of the first budget for Cumberland Council in the coming months. A first draft of the budget and funding distribution will be presented to the Shadow Authority Executive in October.
Westmorland and Furness Board
The Westmorland and Furness Board received an update on the work around the senior leadership appointments following the release of the new authority’s draft leadership structure.
Board Chair and Westmorland and Furness Council Interim Head of Paid Service Sam Plum said that it was important that senior managers’ views and opinions on the proposed structures were heard and listened to as part of the current consultation, and that the proposed structure could ‘shift’ subject to the feedback received.
She added that she wanted to reassure colleagues that, through the managing change process, she was determined that the ‘brilliant’ staff working across the existing authorities would have great opportunities to secure roles in the new authorities.
An update was given on the Westmorland and Furness Council Plan engagement work, which started this week (see separate item on this newsletter for details of how you can share your views on the draft Council Plan) and the Board also heard an update on member engagement work.
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